Apparently Nissa just won Nashville 5K hosted by Star City Games. Coincidence? I think not (Actually, yes, yes it is). Again, houseofsixten.com to see all of sixten’s work.

You are lucky he even designs cards for you!

Not only am I launching a new blog about EDH (I’ve Got 99 Problems But a General Isn’t One), but it’s mailbag time! That’s right, I sometimes get real questions from real people and give you real answers. I ask my twitter followers for questions about Magic and they sometimes deliver. Let’s get to them.

Why do you hate MaRo so much? It seems like every few posts that you talk about him, you’re always bashing him and making fun of him or things like that. What did he ever do to you?

Short answer: I do not hate Mark Rosewater.

Long answer: It’s funny when you read online and assume that everyone hates each other. Like the tabloids do every day, they photoshop and make stuff up to sell magazines. Let me hip you guys on a little secret: people love conflict. That’s why they watch Lord of the Rings, or Grey’s Anatomy, or other movies/shows/stories (Honestly, the only time you’ll see Grey’s Anatomy on this site). People don’t read X-Men because Magneto and Professor X get along, they read it because of the struggles and the fights they get to. See: Family Guy’s parody of “The Even Couple” (Good luck finding it, I wasn’t able to).

So, while it seems like I’m hating on him, that’s not the case. By “fighting” when I’m trying to make a point, makes for a much more interested read. Do I worship the ground he walks on? No, because he levitates. There are things that I don’t like WotC doing from time to time but, and here’s the thing you have to remember, I understand it. I understand why Lotus Cobra is Mythic, I understand why Allies are the way they are, I understand why online has PTQ’s. Do I like any of those choices? No, but I get why they do it.

Being a geek makes you passionate about something. When I, or other people, say they don’t like something that WotC is doing, it’s because they have a emotional connection to the thing that’s being changed or not changed. Star Wars, Doctor Who, Family Guy, all of those have loyal fanbases that shout out when they don’t like something. If the creators of Spongebob Squarepants changed his color to Purple, I’m sure that millions of people would hate it. I wouldn’t, because I don’t care. I don’t have the connection that other people do. I care about the game of Magic, and if WotC does something that makes me mad, I have the right to say something about it.

Of course the flip side is this:

I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very game I design, then questions the manner in which I design it. I’d rather you’d just said thank you and went on your way.

@mtgaaron said the last line to me after my “Few Good Louts Cobras” parody was posted. Sure, sometimes people can go a little far, but at the moment, I haven’t had people burst into my house and take me away with a hood over my face. Yet.

What do you think will happen to EDH if it becomes a side event at PT/GP/Worlds events – stay casual or get wrecked? – @the_stybs

Ah, hey everyone, it’s Adam Styborski! He’s the new writer for Serious Fun on DailyMTG.

There will always be causal in any format you play. As far as I can tell about MTGO, there’s a casual room where people quit if someone plays a counterspell; I don’t know, I just hear about it alot. Will some of the charm be lost if it gets taken to a higher level, sure. But, there’s a good side to that as well. As long as EDH does not get money involved in it (say you get a promo for participating, or several awards are given out by judges for random things), it will stay pretty casual.

Here’s the funny thing. If you ever end up watching a World Series of Poker on ESPN and it’s one of the side events where the pros are doing a wacky variant of Poker, take a look at how their acting. I remember one year they played Blind Man’s Bluff (Indian poker) and were betting it all and laughing. That’s how I imagine pros when they play EDH. It’s not the “staring at the situation, wondering what might be a fatal move if they don’t play something just right” atmosphere (sure, that’s there, but not as prominent). As long as no prizes are given out for finishing in certain places, then it will be just fine.

Creative’s been getting a lot of flack from longtime players. What gives? I like the current novels( and etc) a lot! – @cikesef

Remember when I talked about how fans will outcry when they don’t like something? That’s all this is. If you like it, great. Older players just want their Weatherlight Saga back while forgetting that Magic has now done more non-Weatherlight blocks then Weatherlight-centric since it debuted back in, um, Weatherlight. I know people going gaga over the Planeswalkers, so to each their own. Personally, I think it’s good to get a common thread between planes without being tied to the same people.

What will Worldwake bring us? Which colors are dominant right now and which need a little help via WWK? – @GatheringMagic

Cards, Worldwake will bring us cards.

Those of you who follow me on Twitter, know I’m repeating a joke. Don’t care, he asked for it.

Have a good week everyone.

]]> http://mtgcolorpie.wordpress.com/2009/11/02/monthly-mailbag-leave-maro-alone/feed/ 2 MtGColorPie LeaveMaroAlone Dranu, Lich-Lord http://mtgcolorpie.wordpress.com/2009/11/01/lotus-cobra-is-evil-comic-2/ http://mtgcolorpie.wordpress.com/2009/11/01/lotus-cobra-is-evil-comic-2/#comments Sun, 01 Nov 2009 07:01:23 +0000 MtGColorPie http://mtgcolorpie.wordpress.com/?p=1647 ]]>

From what I can tell you guys like this comic, which is good because I like it too. No more talk this week, today’s comic. Remember, visit Sixten’s (the creator) website houseofsixten.com.

A Titanic reference, always relevant

Half of you reading the title and seeing the card to the right has a terrible song stuck in their head and for that I really, really apologize. But what bothered me from this movie is that while he was being a gentlemen and letting her stay “dry,” body heat helps both of them keep warm and it would’ve helped them both to be on the door together. I guess I’m still just upset that my mom ruined the movie when I told her I was going to see it. “And the end, the boat sinks,” she said. Oh, Spoiler alert. Sorry.

What I’m talking about today is something that at sometime or another we have experienced at one time or another: people stop playing what you like to play. Some of you used to play the old Decipher Star Wars TCG (or even WotC’s version), or Lord of the Rings, or Heroclix; those games have died out, but if your friends have the cards/clix, you can still play them. What I’m talking about is a little different as it deals strictly with Magic.

Since I’m starting my new EDH blog (I Got 99 Problems But a General Ain’t One) next week, I looked at my EDH decks to give me ideas what I could talk about. While going through my cards, I found my 150 Highlander deck. It was a deck that I used to carry around with me everywhere I went, people were playing 150 at pre-releases, and I was trying to get players at my store to play it. Heck, I even wrote an article on MTGSalvation on the format (you think I use alot of links now?). Problem was, I hadn’t used that deck in over a year. I kept getting cool foils for it, but there was no one around playing 150 Highlander. After I started playing EDH, it seemed like most people wanted to play that instead.

So, what happened? Honestly, nothing. And that’s the problem.

Back before EDH became all the rage, 150 Highlander was the format that people played in Seattle and the surrounding area as an offbeat format to relax and have fun. As time went on, EDH became more popular and started to suck the players from 150 and convert them over. Eventually, I was taken too and stop carrying around my 150 deck. New players weren’t introduced because I wasn’t talking about it and the format died. Comparing EDH to 150 is like comparing Incinerate to Lightning Bolt: even though they’re both fine, something is just better. It’s natural that 150 gets faded out.

I don’t know if it’s looking at my deck, foiled and artist signed that most people do with their EDH decks that made me think this way, but I don’t know if I want to tear my 150 deck apart. I mean, I could play it one day, right? It’s fun multiplayer, kinda, except when I get my Recurring Nightmare/Eternal Witness combo going. Or Tinker second turn for an Inkwell Levitation. The astute ones will notice that both of those cards are banned in EDH but, come on, the rules haven’t been updated since 2006. There is a reason those cards are banned in EDH.

But it’s the nostalgia that keeps me wanting to keep the deck together. It was one of my first decks that I put together that wasn’t just  a Type 2, or Extended deck that was going to get torn apart after a few tournaments; it was a deck I was known for. When younger players wanted to play me, regulars would smile as I shuffled up my 150 deck as the kids couldn’t believe that I played with that many cards. They saw cards that were printed before they learned how to read, and were wowed with what I could do with it.

Like Rose holding on to a frozen Jack (Ah, here’s the metaphor everyone was looking for), clearly the format around me was dying and I was the only one holding on to it. A Conflux and Rupture Spire were the last cards I put in the deck (save for the Taiga I traded for to complete a set of ten original duels); both of those were from a set from more than a year ago. The trouble seems that it would be such a waste to have the cards sitting there in sleeves and never play it, right?

(Cracks fingers) Alright, it's coding time...

Some of you are saying, “Well, go do Magic Online where they’ve got tons of wacky formats and you can find people to play them.” Great answer! Let me just scan my cards in and see if I can get the MODO interface to accept it. Silly, right? Believe it nor not, some of us still play with physical cards with people we sit across the table from. So asking to move this to MODO is going to be the same answer: I will still stop playing with these cards.

Some of these other off-beat formats have been popular at first, but have now died down. 5 Color is a format that I really only see Abe Sargent on SCG talk about (and even he complained about getting new blood (what I talked about above) and changed the format just recently). There are different formats that you can create with your close playgroup such as these twitterers did:

We tried to create ‘Kingdom’, a format where five basic lands start in play for each player and if you lose all lands you lose. – @RobJelf

I and two others play with Legacy-legal, 250-card, five-color highlander decks in which all creatures share a creature type. – @nespron

Playing a format with a group of friends is a great idea and I highly encourage it. It’s much different to do a deck for a widely played format that everyone used to play and finally see it get thrown to the sideline for the newest craze. Older players, like myself, have decks that we’ve kept for a while. Most of the time, the decks are the usual size and don’t fit strange requirements. If you don’t have a regular playgroup who don’t do such different formats all the time, trying to find someone that plays that format is kind of like going online and wondering if anyone wants to communicate by Morse Code, it just doesn’t fit. Even if you play pauper magic, you can still play against other decks (though, might not work as well).

I’ve been trying to hold on tight to something that’s going to sink to the bottom of the sea. Investing all this time, money and effort into something that I really can’t play is what makes this decision hard. The deck I built is not for a collection, it’s there to play. So watching the format go to pieces and looking at my options, I believe got three I can choose from:

1. Try and get more people to play. Recruit like mad. Explain that while EDH is fun, 150 is fun as well.

2. Keep my deck together and maybe on the off chance run into someone who also plays 150.

3. Take my deck apart, use the cards in EDH, and cry myself to sleep.

I’ve been wrestling with this decision for the past couple of weeks I think I’ve made it, as some of you might have guessed while reading this. Seeing the format go away, I’m looking at this like another step in life: learning to accept change makes you a better person. The loss of playing 150 Highlander hasn’t be emotional on me, but the final step of it is taking apart my deck, and looking to salvage it for parts. It’s this final step I must do that I know that it’s really over. The first time I draw one of my old 150 cards in an EDH game, will a tear come to my eye? I just don’t know.

This deck has been like a first love: you remember the good times you had together, learning things about each other, then your heart breaks, and there will be reminders of her everywhere you look for a while. In time, you’ll forget that she exists and you’ll be a better person. “But, Robby,” some of you are saying, “Can’t you just build a new one if you find people to play with?” That’s like running into her at your class reunion saying it would be nice to keep in touch, reminiscing about old times, but you never really do; it’s just not the same. Eventually, you’ll take that one thing she gave you right before you broke up and drop it in the ocean.

Now if you excuse me, I think I hear a recorder in the background.

Like this, but with #LotusCobra

Some of you may have figured out that I’ve got three loves of my life: My wife (hi hun), Magic, and Movies. Wife doesn’t play Magic, but we watch movies together, and recently I’ve been mixing Magic and movies on this blog. In this new series (Magic Cinema), I take a look at some famous scenes in movies and imagined what they might look like if Magic was the central focus of them. This is the second scene I thought of, but more relevant timing (Note: I did not plan this to fit so well with the timing of “Lotus Cobra is Evil”) Some NSFW language, but not rampant.

A Few Good Lotus Cobras

Players are mad, they’re angry that Lotus Cobra was made a mythic, and they want answers. Why would they print such a powerful card at that rarity? More importantly the players want someone’s head on a plate. WotC offered up two of the developers who made Zendikar: Grame Hopkins and Matt Place. The two said they were just following orders but no one believes them.

Two Pro Tour players have been selected to represent the Prosecution, Mike Flores (who previewed the card and said it was nuts and one of the best cards ever printed), and Defense, Patrick Chapin (who doesn’t live in “Magic Christmas Land” (Sorry, another Premium SCG article)) as well as Fanboy Evan Erwin of “The Magic Show” to reside as judge. Smelling something fishy going on, Chapin had brought fellow Pro Player Brian Kibler to help defend the two sacrificial Zendikar designers and find out the bottom of the situation. There have been rumors of cards that were supposed to go in the Mythic Rare spot instead, to even one of the other cards moved to rare so Lotus Cobra could be Mythic, to moving Lotus Cobra to a different set altogether.

As a last ditch effort during the trial, Chapin has decided to put Mark Rosewater (MaRo), the head designer of Zendikar, on the witness stand to try and get something out of him. During his investigation, two people enter the courtroom, Elane Chase and Aaron Forsythe, both WotC Employees. After mocking Chapin for a few minutes, MaRo stands up and starts to leave. Chapin has asked him to sit back down because he wasn’t done with him.

INT – MILITARY COURTROOM – MORNING

Inside the courtroom everyone is stunned that CHAPIN told MARO to get back up on the witness stand. CHAPIN sighs and takes a drink of water. He’s decided to finally go for it, the jugular. MARO goes back to the stand and sits down.

MARO
(Sarcastically)
What would you like to discuss now? My favorite color?

CHAPIN
Mr. Rosewater, Zendikar was the first set in the block had no Green Mythic opening?

MARO
Yes.

CHAPIN
Worldwake, the next set, didn’t have an open slot for a Green Rare?

EVAN
Patrick, I think we’ve covered this, haven’t we?

CHAPIN grabs both three ring binders from KIBLER.

CHAPIN
Your Honor, these are the Multiverse database developers comments for both Zendikar and Worldwake. Zendikar shows no open Green Mythic spots that had to be created. That’s the same as Worldwake’s comments as well as there were no open Green Rare spots. I’d like to admit them as Defense Exhibits “Alpha” and “Bravo”.

EVAN
I don’t understand.  You’re admitting evidence of a card hole that never existed?

CHAPIN
We believe it did, sir.
(Motioning to the WotC employees)
The Defense will be calling Elane Chase and Aaron Forsythe.  They work for WotC and have intimate knowledge of the Multiverse database.

FLORES
(Standing up)
Your Honor, these two weren’t on the list.

KIBLER
Rebuttal witnesses, Your Honor, called specifically to refute testimony offered under direct examination.

If you looked closely at MARO, you could see a drop of sweat.

EVAN
I’ll allow the witnesses.

MARO
(Upset)
This is ridiculous.

CHAPIN
MaRo, a moment ago…

MARO
(Cutting him off)
Check the database comments for Christ’s sake.

CHAPIN
We’ll get to the employees in just a minute, sir.  A moment ago said that you ordered Ken Nagle to tell his team that Lotus Cobra was not to be touched and leave it at rare in Zendikar.

MARO
That’s right.

CHAPIN
And Ken was clear on what you wanted?

MARO
Crystal.

CHAPIN
Any chance Ken ignored the order?

MARO
(confused)
Ignored the order?

CHAPIN
Any chance he just forgot about it?

MARO
No.

CHAPIN
Any chance Ken left your office and said, “The ‘old man’s wrong’?”

MARO
No.

CHAPIN
When Ken spoke to the other designers and ordered them not to touch Lotus Cobra, any chance they ignored him?

MARO
You ever spent time developing a card game, son?

CHAPIN
No, sir.

MARO
Ever made a Magic set?

CHAPIN
No sir.

MARO
Ever put your card in another man’s hands, ask him to put his card in yours?

CHAPIN
No sir.

MARO
We follow orders, son.  We follow orders or cards die. It’s that simple.  Are we clear?

CHAPIN
Yes sir.

MARO
(Reiterating forcefully)
Are we clear?

CHAPIN
(Smugly)
Crystal.

CHAPIN stands there for a moment, then starts to interrogate further like he has drawn the nuts to win the match.

CHAPIN
(continuing; beat)
MaRo, I have just one more question before I call Elane Chase and Aaron Forsythe.  If you gave an order that Lotus Cobra wasn’t to be touched at rare, and your orders are always followed, then why would it be in danger?  Why would it be necessary to raise transfer Lotus Cobra to Woldwake?

MARO sits there for a moment, looking at CHAPIN, silently. Finally, after a hard swallow, he speaks.

MARO
Lotus Cobra was getting to be in a Starter pack. We we looking at another landfall card…

CHAPIN
(Interrupting)
But that’s not what you said.  You said it was in danger of getting transferred to another set.

MARO
(beat)
Yes.  That’s correct, but–

CHAPIN
(Cutting him off)
You said, “It was in danger”.  I asked “Grave danger?” You said…

MARO
(Trying to explain)
Yes, I recall what…

CHAPIN
(Cutting him off)
I can have the Court Reporter read back your…

MARO
(Angry)
I know what I said.  I don’t need it read back to me like I’m a…

CHAPIN
Then why the two orders?
(beat)
Sir?

MARO
(beat)
Sometimes men take matters into their own hands…

CHAPIN
(Interrupting)
No sir.  You made it clear just a moment ago that your team never take matters into their own hands.  Your team follows orders or cards die.  So, Lotus Cobra shouldn’t have been in any danger at all, should it have, MaRo?

MARO
(Under his breath)
You little bastard.

FLORES
(Standing up)
Your Honor, I have to ask for a recess to–

CHAPIN
I’d like an answer to the question, Judge.

EVAN
(Beat)
The Court will wait for answer.

CHAPIN
If Ken told his men that Lotus Cobra wasn’t to be touched, then why did it have to be transferred?

MARO is looking at CHASE and FORSYTHE.

CHAPIN
(continuing)
MaRo?

MARO says nothing and shifts his gaze back to CHAPIN.

CHAPIN
(continuing)
Ken ordered the Mythic Rarity, didn’t he? Because that’s what you told him to do.

FLORES
Object!

EVAN
Counsel.

CHAPIN will keep going through FLORES’ objections and the threats of EVAN.

CHAPIN
And when it went bad, you cut these guys loose.

FLORES
Your Honor…

EVAN
That will be all, counsel.

CHAPIN
You had Buehler sign a phony transfer order…

FLORES
Judge…

EVAN
Counsel, I’ll hold you in contempt.

CHAPIN
You doctored the database.

FLORES
Damnit Chapin!!

EVAN
Consider yourself in contempt!

CHAPIN
(Yelling)
Mark Rosewater, did you order the Mythic rarity?

EVAN
You don’t have to answer the question!

MARO
I’ll answer the question. You want answers?

CHAPIN
I think I’m entitled to them.

MARO
(Angerly)
You want answers?!

CHAPIN
(Demanding)
I want the truth!

MARO
(Yelling)
YOU CAN’T HANDLE THE TRUTH!

And nobody moves.

MARO
(continuing)
Son, we design a game that has rules. And that game has to be designed by people with experience.  Who’s gonna do it? You?  You, Brian Kibler?  I have a greater responsibility than you can possibly fathom.  You weep for Lotus Cobra’s rarity and you curse the designers.  You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know, that Lotus Cobra’s rarity, while tragic, probably saves Magic.  And my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves Magic.
(beat)
You don’t want the truth because deep down in places you don’t talk about at parties, you want me designing Magic.  You need me designing Magic.
(boasting)
We use words like casting cost, rarity, loyalty…we use these words as the backbone to a life spent creating something.  You use ‘em as a punchline.
(beat)
I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very game I design, then questions the manner in which I design it. I’d rather you’d just said thank you and went on your way. Otherwise, I suggest you pick up a pen and start designing cards.  Either way, I don’t give a damn what you think you’re entitled to!

CHAPIN
(quietly)
Did you order the Mythic rarity?

MARO
(beat)
I did the job I’ve been sent to do.

CHAPIN
(Yelling)
Did you order the Mythic rarity!?

MARO
(Yelling)
YOU’RE GODDAMN RIGHT I DID!

Silence.  From everyone.  EVAN, FLORES, KIBLER, no one. MARO seems strangely, quietly relieved.  CHAPIN simply takes control of the room now.

CHAPIN
If it would please the court, I suggest the jury be dismissed so that we can move to an immediate Article 39a Session.  The witness has rights.

Silence.

EVAN looks to FLORES.

EVAN
Flores?

FLORES is frozen.  He doesn’t know what to do.

CHAPIN
(as a friend)
Mike?

FLORES looks at CHAPIN, then MARO, then nods his head “yes” to EVAN.

EVAN
The Head Judge will take the jury to an another room where you’ll wait until further instruction.

The HEAD JUDGE begins leading the JURORS out of the room. MARO stands up and walks off the stand, looking around the room.

MARO
What the hell’s going on?

No one will say anything until the jurors are out of the room.

MARO
(continuing; to Flores)
Flores, what the hell’s going on?  I did my job.  I’d do it again.  Now I’m getting on a plane and going back to Renton.

EVAN
You’re not going anywhere. T.O.s, guard the prisoner.

Two T.O.s have come to stand side-by-side with MARO.

MARO
What the hell-

FLORES
Mark Rosewater, you have the right to remain silent.  Any statement you do make can be used against you in a trial.  You have the right …

FLORES continues reading MARO his rights as he starts to object.

MARO
I’m being charged with a crime? I’m… that’s what this is…
(Flores is doing his job. MARO Looks at everyone who’s silent)
I’m being charged with a crime?  This is funny, that’s what this is. You know that, this is—

And MARO lunges at CHAPIN. The T.O.s grab and restrain MARO. KIBLER stands up next to CHAPIN.

MARO
(continuing; to CHAPIN)
I’m gonna tear your eyes right outta your head and piss in your dead skull.  You fucked with the wrong designer!

FLORES is done reading MARO his rights.

FLORES
Mr. Rosewater, do you understand those rights as I have just read then to you?

The courtroom is silent. MARO takes a deep breath and relaxes his body. The T.O.s let go but stand right there.

MARO
(continuing)
You fuckin’ people.
(beat)
You have no idea how to design a game. All you did was weaken Magic today, Chapin. That’s all you did.  You put the game in danger.  Sweet dreams, son.

CHAPIN
Don’t call me son.
(beat)
I’m a Pro Player, and a fan of the game of Magic.  And you’re under arrest you sonofabitch. The witness is excused.

FADE TO BLACK

With my deepest apologies to Aaron Sorkin.

Today, I feel lucky to bring you a new web comic, “Lotus Cobra is Evil.” The creator of the comic (Sixten on MTGSalvation) has been gracious enough to let me post the comic here on MtGColorPie. With any luck, it will add more “lulz” to you day, or whatever you kids say on the internet.

On Sundays, we’ll post the next one in the series (Remember Sunday comics in your newspapers? What, you don’t know what a newspaper is? You darn kids). Of course I have to give credit where credit is due and tell you all to go to the creator’s website houseofsixten.com.

Today’s comic is the first of the series (obviously). Hope you kids enjoy it.

Eh, close enough.

If I’m such a legend, then why am I so lonely? Let me tell you, legends are all very well if you’ve got somebody around who loves you.
- Judy Garland

One of the largest growing formats in Magic is the much loved (Especially by me) Elder Dragon Highlander. If you haven’t played this format, I would highly suggest it. Not only does it reward deck building skills and creativity, I have met very few people who dislike it (and most of them are Spikes who play the usual 40/60 card decks).

If you’ve only heard about EDH and want to know how to build a deck, read this article here from the creator of the format, Sheldon Menery. He talks about some of the things you should look for when creating your deck. My advice? Well, sometime we’ll get around to that. Today, instead let’s look at the most important piece in EDH, your General.

If you don’t know, you start with a Legendary creature (General) in the Command Zone (a zone created in Planechase just for this) that you can play at any time you normally could. Your 100 card deck (including General) can only have one copy of a card (excluding basic land); hence Highlander (There can be only one!). The cards in your deck can only be the same color as your General, you lands can only produce mana of your general and text boxes can’t have off-color mana symbols as well (A deck with Rafiq of the Many as the General cannot have Ethersworn Adjudicator because of the Black mana symbol).

All of this is very flavorful and makes perfect sense; if you have a legendary creature (One who is named and supposedly powerful) leading your army (hence the General), they would only want to have their support be by cards with the same philosophies in the Color Pie. It’s a very flavorful format and with all of the things you can do with it, very customizable as well.

Back to the Legendary creatures themselves. If you didn’t notice recently, Wizards has officially adopted EDH as a format, but let the Banned list still be effected by the “Elder Dragons.” In the most recent developer’s chat I even asked the question if Wizards designs Legendary creatures with EDH in mind. Guess what, they do (At least Ken Nagle (@norrYtt) does). But that doesn’t always seem to have been the case.

When Legends first appeared in Legends (huh, imagine that), the DCI  regulated to one per a deck since it was a flavor choice; they were really powerful. Really? Barktooth Warbeard (Best name ever) was 6/5 vanilla creature for 4BRR. Yeah, my Craw Wurm is really scared of you. Back then Legendary creatures were seen as “super”-humans (or creatures) from D&D campaigns while normal humans (like you and me) are 1/1’s, maybe. But that doesn’t explain why most of the Legends “sucked.”

Well, like anytime a new card type is released it gets brought down a little bit so it doesn’t overrun the environment (Sure, sets were designed way differently back then, but the same principle remains). After a while the design gets pushed until a right power level is reached. But Legends are different, most of the time they’re a top-down design (take a concept and design the card around it) that relies on the storyline that runs through Magic now. If you have a character in the story, you design the card around it.

Over time, and as EDH started and slowly became more popular, there were more and more Legends printed. Slowly, the Legends got better as the Weatherlight Saga continued. Wizards were designing Legends more powerful to make them favorites or players Finally by the end of the multi-block saga, a breakthrough happened: Tri-color Legends.

The first three color Legends since Legends, they opened doors for all new EDH players who couldn’t find or afford the original Elder Dragons. As a nod to the old dragons, they were a major hit. These dragons had something to do besides firebreathing (Nicol Bolas aside). A new type of Legend was born. Over the next several blocks Legends started becoming more powerful, but were still not enough to build an EDH deck around (Sure, Braids is banned as a General, and Green Kamahl can be enough to power a deck) if you wanted variety.

Wait a minute, why am I getting all excited over Kamahl? I mean, sure his abilities are interesting, but nothing to get really hot and bothered over. That’s exactly the point. Most EDH decks (through a survey on Twitter and from what I’ve seen players play) are based around the General (Except 5-color Generals which are mostly there to play any of the colors except for Slivers and Dragons). People want to play a General that has awesome, game changing abilities not just play a creature that allows players to have certain colors. A General is no good if it doesn’t have an ability that does something that players can abuse and have fun with. Very few Generals up to this point were really exciting.

Even in Kamagawa, a block where every rare creature was Legendary (and, if you’ve been paying attention, apt to be used as a General), very few of them see EDH play. Ben-Ben tickle your fancy? Hisoka seems great to play. Ishi-Ishi is a metagame breaker, right?. Any of the Myojins are amazing as Generals. See my point? Kamagawa is a great block if taken as a whole and left alone (Arcane, I’m looking at you), but if you mix it with other cards, it doesn’t play all that nice. Take a look at the State of Design by MaRo before Ravnica came out and read what they say about inter-block design. But something funny happened on the way to Ravnica.

Take a look at the Ravnica Legendary creatures. Aside from Circu (who really can’t benefit from a singleton environment), most of the Legends are good at being Generals. They’re all multicolored (A real bonus for the format), but each of them effects the game in a huge way, like you thought Legends used to do. If you pay extra mana when you cast your creature, you get +1/+1 counters on them? Every time you draw you ping? How awesome is that?

Coldsnap released, and except for one (Hakkon), all of them are viable EDH Generals. Remember, EDH is a casual format, not Spike filled so your inner Timmy and Johnny can come out to play. You want to build a Red warrior theme deck, you got it. How about a BRG deck that rewards you for killing creatures, sure. All of these Generals have the “Build around me” vibe that so many EDH players long for.

Look at Time Spiral’s Generals. Most of them (Save Futureshifted and most Timeshifted) are EDH friendly.

Then Lorwyn/Shadowmoor.

Shards.

And finally we get to Zendikar.

The reason EDH is getting more popular is not because word has been spread around and people are finally getting to know the format (I heard about it way back in 2001 with Mirrodin) though that is a portion of it. The format has grown mostly because we have gotten better Generals. The quality of Legends has increased tenfold. For the past several years designing Legends have been something of a boom rather then bust. Players I know are playing newer Legendary creatures as Generals not because they can get their hands on them easier, but their more fun to play with. Wizards has routinely made cards that get better in multiplayer games, a demographic section of players they care about. They have also done the same thing with EDH by making Generals better (better meaning not just sitting there looking pretty but doing something). The Legendary creatures are flavorful (both as a card and fit with the storyline) and powerful enough to support one format (EDH) while not warping the rest of Magic.

What draws players into this format is that no matter what type of player profile you are (Please MaRo, update your Timmy/Johnny/Spike article, it’s been 3 1/2 years) you can play people and have fun. You can play against different people’s decks who all have the same General and see different ideas of what they do with it. How many of you started playing EDH since Ravinca (If you have played Magic before then)? You looked at the Generals that were being printed and were now in your hand and you said, “I know I can build a deck around this. These cards would be great in that deck.” Then how many of you built another EDH deck with another General in different colors? How many EDH decks do you have now, and what’s your ratio of pre-Invasion/Pre-Ravnica/Post-Ravnica Generals?

Today’s lesson (because every Design Class needs one): when you’re creating cards as something as flavorful as a Legendary creature, you have to think of different formats. If your hero, who’s not a Planeswalker, does something awesome in the story, make sure it does something awesome as a card. Powerful and Spike-like (A Legendary creature that reads: Name – GW, Shroud, First Strike, 3/2) is not always a good choice for Legendary creatures. Rafiq of the Many is Legendary while Empyrial Archangel isn’t. They’re both powerful Bant Mythic creatures, but which one fits as a creature you want leading your army to victory? It has to fit both flavorfully and mechanically.

If you haven’t built an EDH deck yet, take your time and take a look at Legendary creatures. You’ll see how Magic has grown up as you wonder how some of these creatures even got to be Legendary in the first place. Once you pick out a General that’s interested you, start building your deck. Show your opponents that you’ve got a great General. Fight that good fight. Show them you’re a prince of the universe.

I never said I was a role model

Editor’s Note: Today is Blog Action Day 2009. Every year, bloggers from around the world talk about one subject to try and change the world. This year, bloggers blog about Climate Change. I really don’t get political so it may come as a surprise why I’m talking about climate change in a blog about a game that prints cards on paper. If you want my opinion about the people who get political about climate change, watch this Penn & Teller clip.

So today I grabbed a celebrity to talk about climate change for me. While I didn’t get a heavy hitter like Sean Penn or Susan Sarandon (who both are suckers for complaining about anything liberal), I did someone who was pretty high up there. Also, I think the celebrity will go great with my core demographic (Male gamers). If you haven’t looked at the picture right now, shame on you. Without further ado, Natalie Portman.

Wizards of the Coast is killing the Universe.

Wait, hold on a second, let me re-read that. The Multiverse. Got it. Wizards of the Coast is killing the Multiverse. If you players don’t do something about it soon, there will be no more Multiverse left to play Magic in.

On earth, there are many different climates that you have to be concerned about. But whenever Wizards creates a new plane, it’s all one type of climate. First it was too hot there were Deserts all over the place. Then, with the creation of too many machines, they created an Ice Age. An ice age? Remember where urban sprawl took over the entire plane? You know what happened after that? Total f’ing chaos where the environment and mana was completely messed up. They’ve already allowed Acid Rain to come to pass, how long until something much worse happens?

They think it’s fun to have a plane deprived of two colors? What kind of sick monsters are these people? That’s like having a peanut butter and jelly sandwich without having peanut butter. Are they thinking they’re getting us for the future when our children and our children’s children won’t have access to Red mana? All the Mountains will be gone?

And now? The lands are really changing. Basic lands are really special and the lands themselves are alive. By thinking that they can make up for 17 years of destruction with not even a full block of a land centric theme, Wizards isn’t even trying. It’s their token “Oh, let’s say we care about the environment,” block. Give me a break.

See this? This is not natural.

Wizards can’t keep doing this. These people have the power to change the environment at a moment’s will without worrying about the consequences and that’s exactly what they’re doing. They don’t care about the citizens and creatures of these planes. Just like the movie Independence Day, they go from plane to plane using up all the resources and mana then go on to the next one, completely ignoring what they’ve just done.

Plus, it’s not just the climate that Wizards is ruining. Remember the mass genocide that Wizards created with creatures a while ago? They just got rid of creatures at a whim. Poor poor ponies. Why did they get rid of them? “Because we can?” Who does that sound like? I ask you that question because it’s going to make me seem smart if I imply it and not actually spoon-feeding you the answer.

What can you do? What can the normal player like you do (this is a blog action day after all)? 1: Don’t buy Magic cards until they stop destroying planes. 2: Protest outside Wizards of the Coast on November 15th for Multiverse Awareness Day. Tell them that you’re sick and tired of them destroying planes and splitting planes apart and throwing them back together because “Because we can.” And when you do protest, come up with rhyming slogans, the people being protested really hate that and it’s easy to remember. 3: Write as many letters as you can to Wizards. 4: Throw ink on new cards like PETA does on fur coats.

Together, we can tell Wizards that we will not stand for their ignorance anymore. Well will not take their lack of thinking about future planes anymore! They need to think of the future. I hope that my children will one day play Magic without having new basic lands, they can visit the same planes we can today, and that the Multiverse will still be there. With your help, we can make a difference.

- Natalie Portman*

*Natalie Portman had no part in this post.

]]> http://mtgcolorpie.wordpress.com/2009/10/15/blog-action-day-2009-climate-change-only-you-can-save-the-multiverse/feed/ 0 MtGColorPie natalieportman TimeSpiralIsland http://mtgcolorpie.wordpress.com/2009/10/14/magic-motivators-2-motivate-harder/ http://mtgcolorpie.wordpress.com/2009/10/14/magic-motivators-2-motivate-harder/#comments Wed, 14 Oct 2009 19:30:57 +0000 MtGColorPie http://mtgcolorpie.wordpress.com/?p=1503 ]]>

While getting ready for Windows 7, I’ve been backing up my stuff and going through folders deleting things I don’t need to transfer. I found some more Magic Motivational posters lost in my folders. They were going to be a follow up to the original post but they got lost in another back up and, well, kids that’s why you label everything.

So, unlike the last thing Magic related that was created but “lost“, this one was exactly like that. I asked my Twitter followers if they wanted to see them. Several of them said yes. So they’re going up. What can I say, I’m a people pleaser.

After the long post last time and the posting date for tomorrow’s post, I wanted to do a simple post. While it’s not a complete cycle of posters (where’s modular mechanics?), as long as people like this you’ll get “Magic Motivators 3: Revenge of the Motivators” sometime later to finish it out.

Enjoy!

- Don’t get Dune-Brood Nephilim? Click on it.

- Vorthos almost had the Singing Shark meme attached to it. Alright, if you really want to see it, (Warning: language, if you’re offended by that type of thing) click here (Singing Shark meme here).

Admit it, you'd pay $30 for this card (or at least your #1 Dime)

Editor’s Note: Some of you might have read some of this before. I accidentally hit publish when I was still working on my draft. Sorry about that. Here is the full post. Also, I hate Jeremy Fuentes for picking the best title ever (Stop Trying to Make Fetch Happen).

Fellow blogger Kelly Reid runs the amazing blog Quiet Speculation about his love affair with a certain Judgment uncommon instant the financial value of Magic. On his blog he recently ran a letter complaining about the horrible effects that Fetchlands have on the Game of Magic, both from a financial and play standpoint. Mike wrote this:

I recently bought a box of Zendikar cards: $85 bucks paid partially in store credit and partially in cash. I’m working my way though the packs slowly and so far, in about 8 packs, I’ve opened up two fetchlands. A quick search of the internet tells me that this small portion of my packs is worth a little under $40.

See, like you, I’ve been making a lot of decks in preparation for the new standard format. I’m trying to be realistic with what I can spend money on, and the last thing that I want to do is spend $80 per playset of lands in order to just get my deck off the ground…

…To say it more briefly, fetchlands are boring. Dual lands are boring. Mana fixing is boring.

What if mana fixing was all in the uncommon slot? Sure, there could still be rare lands like Oran-Reef the Vastwood or Mutavault that have additional effects, but what if the foundations of deck building were more readily available?

This is a very interesting idea; making something like that uncommon. There are two facets to this issue, as a business model and as design.

Magic started off as a collectible card game (Hence, the CCG). Dr. Richard Garfield created a game to be played in between sessions of D&D, where he got the fantasy influence. Never in his wildest dreams (alright, maybe in his wildest wildest dreams) did he ever think that Magic would become so popular, that 17 years later people would be dropping hundreds of dollars every few months. So, he took an idea from D&D when making the game: different rarities.

The closet thing to Pre-Magic was baseball cards. Baseball cards are produced in runs where non-insert cards have the same rarity as everything else. The odds of getting an Albert Pujols (Black Lotus) card are the same as getting a Yuniesky Betancourt (Chimney Imp) card. Even though baseball cards are collectible (like Magic), it isn’t a game. The only time that this “baseball card” effect was used in Magic was the purple rarity in Time Spiral; you had an equal change of getting a Squire as an Akroma in one card slot. Imagine a whole pack like that.

If you take a look at baseball card prices (the non-insert ones), you’ll find something interesting: most of the cards have around the same price. Except for an Albert Pujols, or Ichiro, most of them are under a dollar. Rookie cards are the most sought after cards that aren’t inserts because they’re the most rare (You only get one rookie season); it’s the rarity that drive up the prices.

Rarity might seem like a “duh” concept now, but back then it wasn’t as obvious. Garfield created the CCG genre. Magic was the first card game that didn’t have all the cards in one box (like a deck of playing cards), and that came at different rarities. But why the rarities? For flavor. If you’re going through a dungeon and find treasure, you may not always get something exciting. Sure, you’ve heard stories of the “Awesome sword that kills everything” but you can’t find it; it’s “Rare,” not everyone has one. But what is pretty “common” is a sword that every adventurer carries around. Scarcity breeds demand (a principle in economics).

Because the fact that you would get an equal shot at every card in all 15 card slots in all the packs, you don’t get your money’s worth. Rare cards aren’t “rare” because they’re “common.” Sure, it might be great to open up a Black Lotus in 5 consecutive packs, but they would be the same price as a Squire since they’re gotten so easily. You wouldn’t have the investment to keep buying the packs over a period of time.

What is he trying to grab with his right hand?

Back in 1994 when I was in elementary school (Grades K-5), there was a craze going around the young men of the school to collect Fleer Ultra X-Men trading cards. Some days after school I would be able to go and buy a couple packs and bring them to school the next day. Kids (alright, mostly boys) brought binders of cards trying to get the full sets and even the rare foil chase cards. While this is a walk down memory lane for me, I just explained what everyday is like at school, bringing cards to school and trading during recess.

Somewhere in my pile of stuff I think I still have the full set of cards I traded for as well as some of the foils. You know how much the full set of cards are going for on eBay? $20. Because there was an equal chance of getting all of the cards (and because all you could do was collect them), the law of diminishing returns happened and you didn’t have a need to keep buying more packs. Next year happened and they released a new set. The problem was that most of us who bought those cards didn’t buy the next years since there was nothing we could do but look at them and they eventually stopped printing the cards since people stopped buying them.

If you have a product where people need to keep buying it, then you’ve got a good business model. You can play with Magic cards, which means you can do something besides look at them in a binder (though people do that, and there’s nothing wrong with that at all). It’s a game that has constant changes to it, so people need to keep up. It’s those chase cards that sell the set, almost no on buys the cards for the commons. That’s the business side of making Fetchlands rare.

But from design standpoint, Fetchlands are rare because they’re at a power level that shouldn’t be any lower. Here’s what MaRo says about spreading power cards across rarities:

Richard Garfield made a decision very early in Magic’s design that the game’s rarity wasn’t supposed to be about power. Richard believed the game would be more accessible if players had the ability to build cheaper decks. As such, Richard wove into R&D’s philosophy the idea that the good cards needed to be spread across all three rarities. R&D has held onto that vision to this day. Why? Because we want to make the game as accessible as we can to the largest group of players.

Yes, the Fetchlands are good; yes, the Fetchlands are powerful. But take a look at all the standard non-rare lands that can make multiple colors or go get multiple colors:

Terramoprhic Expanse (M10)
Panorama Lands (Shards of Alara)
Shard Lands (Shards of Alra)
Rupture Spire (Conflux)
Ancient Ziggurat (Conflux)
Unstable Frontier (Conflux)
Refuge Lands (Zendikar)

And the block before that had the Vivid lands and Shimmering Grotto. For the budget player there’s never been a better time to build multi-color with the lands we’ve been given. Wizards has seen that and given it to us in commons and uncommons. The foundations of deck building are there if you look past the most recent set. I could build a fun, semi-competitive deck with non-rare lands. Would it be the best deck in the world? Most likely not, but it would be fun and you play it with your friends and at FNM.

But here’s the thing, the Fetchland cycle is so popular that it spawned the common Panorama cycle in Shards and the Terramorphic Expanse in Time Spiral. All 6 of those cards are common, and all are less powerful then Fetchlands. The Fetchlands can go get any land with the subtype “Forest” while the Panoramas and Expanse can only get basic Forests. That’s a big difference. That’s why they’re rare. And it’s alright to have cards like that to be rare if there’s a reason.

Not on the Reserved List

Could Fetchlands be uncommon? Actually they are. Yes, most newer players don’t know that Mirage has Fetchlands. The power level between the commons and rare Fetchlands fit exactly where the uncommon Mirage ones are. If you look at them in a cycle, they make sense:

Common: Pay 1 mana, go get basic Forest, it comes into play tapped.
Uncommon: It comes into play tapped, go get any Forest.
Rare: Lose 1 life, go get any Forest.

If you look at it like that, it makes perfect sense to have the Fetchlands that you know and hate, be rare. The question shouldn’t be: why are Fetchlands rare, is should be: why hasn’t Wizards reprinted the Mirage Fetchlands?

In the current Standard environment you can’t search up any non-basic Forest and put it into play with the Fetchlands. The reason why they are so good are for the older formats. Could Wizards bring back Flood Plain and it’s ilk? Yes! If all you’re doing is playing casual and don’t care about format, the Mirage Fetchlands are  not more than a dollar a piece.

But what does all of this mean, the financial and the rarity issue? First, the more valuable cards you own, the more you’re invested in the game. The articles by Patrick Chapin, Ben Bleiweiss, and Stephen Menendian on Star City Games (All premium articles, sorry. It’s actually one of the only things I pay for online, so that tells you how much stock I put into them) all talked about how if a person actually owned more valuable cards, they would be more involved in the scene. While a $200 card is much different then a $20 one, it’s the same principle. It’s why I put that weird tangent in there about the X-men cards; I was not really invested in the collect, so I didn’t continue.

As for the rarity, it’s all about design. Having mana fixing at uncommon because you think it’s boring is not a good reason. I think the Lords (Elvish Champion, Goblin King) are boring designs, should we make them uncommon (The Lorywn ones are different just like artifacts were different in Mirrodin)?  The design of cards needs to spread to all levels of rarity, as told by the MaRo quote above. It doesn’t matter how boring you believe the cards are, it matters on how well they fit together as a set.

Do I think Mike is wrong? No, he has a valid point about how expensive the game can get.  But this is also a hobby, and there are other ways to play Magic (EDH, Pauper, Pack Wars). If you want, trade away those Fetchlands you pull for other things you do need. Right now, they’re a great bargaining chip if you’re willing to depart with them. In fact, I think I might be able to dust off a binder of X-men collector cards for your Misty Rainforest…